News & Insights

FSP advises Cloud Direct on AlwaysOn acquisition

Latest in a series of acquisitions on which FSP has advised Cloud Direct.

Field Seymour Parkes has advised long-standing client On Direct Business Services Limited (trading as Cloud Direct) on its acquisition of AlwaysOn Group (“AOG”) from its current shareholders, Foresight Group and Mobeus Equity Partners, together with management and a group of private investors. This acquisition was completed simultaneously with the entry by Cloud Direct into new acquisition debt facilities with Beechbrook Capital which helped fund this acquisition and gives Cloud Direct access to additional funding for future acquisitions.

AOG is a £5.5m revenue provider of unified communications (“UC”), data communication and managed data services to UK headquartered organisations, primarily mid-sized enterprises. AOG also provides network and connectivity services and application hosting services and managed data services include net backup and recovery services (on-premise and cloud); data archiving; and data storage management. This acquisition complements and grows Cloud Direct’s current business as a provider of cloud based managed IT service to SMEs, encompassing UC, cloud back-up, disaster recovery, hosted VOIP telephony, Office 365 and cloud hosting and infrastructure.

Brett Raynes, CEO of Cloud Direct said: “Since 2003, we’ve been helping organisations grow by migrating them to the cloud – quickly and securely. Moving forward, AOG’s capabilities will be critical to that as we drive better business continuity, people productivity and infrastructure. Their people and customers are a great asset to our business at this exciting time of high growth. We’ll slowly integrate the business into the Cloud Direct clan as we continue to support organic growth with an ambitious acquisition strategy.”

The team at Field Seymour Parkes was led by corporate partner Penelope Garden with assistance from Senior Associate (banking) Alex Illingworth, Cathrine Ripley (partner, commercial contracts & technology), Mark Banham (commercial property) and Ian Machray (partner, employment).